...At a sharp right hand turn in lap 3, late braking took Tivvy deep to the
outside of turn 9 allowing me room to sneak past on the inside. Now in the
lead, I was determined to break Tivvy?s streak of 5 five consecutive wins. I
held him off for four laps until a 356 Porsche we were lapping, ran up and
over a hay bale situated in a storm drain, and jumped three feet in the air
directly in front of me! I hit the brakes, not knowing where the Porsche would
end up. Tivvy hit the gas and shot past both of us into the lead. More slow
traffic allowed him to build a three second lead, and he took the checkered
flag on the next lap, for his 6th consecutive win in this event!
This excerpt is from an account by an XKE driver competing against the 1955
XK140 of Tivvy Shenton, a notoriously fast and consistent winner in a car
sporting the front drum brakes it was born with. His success as I perceive it
(I never actually spoke with him, but became thoroughly engrossed studying his
progress on the track) involves the building of a bulletproof engine making
plenty of power ( I heard that he was a Rolls engine builder before emigrating
to the states), a driving style based on mastery of many different lines,
stealthlike passing skills and the natural inclination to apply pressure to
the pedal located to the far right as opposed to the one located in the
middle. If anyone else has had the pleasure of watching, or the frustration of
chasing him, I think they would agree. Vintage racing doesn't get much better.
S. Preiss
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